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Saturday, December 06, 2008
Law - Chicago Mayor Dailey privatizes City parking meters
A interesting story in the Sun-Times this morning, reported by Fran Speilman, begins:
No wonder Mayor Daley is so touchy about the subject of mortgaging Chicago's future.He has now unloaded four of the city's most valuable assets for a $6 billion mountain of cash and saddled taxpayers with $5.8 billion worth of long-term debt.
The great Chicago sell-off started with the Skyway ($1.83 billion), continued with downtown parking garages ($563 million) and Midway Airport ($2.5 billion) and culminated this week with the sale of Chicago parking meters ($1.15 billion).
More troubling for future generations is the fact that the mayor plans to spend at least $425 million of the parking meter windfall over the next five years -- and $324 million more if the moribund economy is slow to bounce back.
Daley has also increased the city's long-term debt by a whopping 178 percent over the last decade -- from $2.1 billion to $5.8 billion or $2,006 per person.
And Chicago has more than 150 tax increment financing districts that siphoned $555.3 million away in 2007.
The bottom line is that Daley's successor will be boxed in by heavy debt, a diminishing tax base and precious few money-making assets.
"He's handcuffing future mayors. Whoever comes in is going to find an empty cupboard," said a longtime observer, who asked to remain anonymous.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 6, 2008 09:06 AM
Posted to General Law Related